“It’s lovely to watch but they wouldn’t get that time and space against a decent team, it’s as simple as that.

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“Give quality players time on the ball like that and they are going to punish you. The reality is if they are playing a top team in Europe they won’t get the time and space, they won’t get those opportunities.

“If you know this game then you understand they have so much bigger and tougher tests coming up.”

On RTÉ, meanwhile, another ex-Ireland international Damien Duff took a more optimistic view, suggesting Liverpool are contenders to win the Champions League (see below).